Key stuck in ignition and will not release. Repaired twice under warranty problem still persists. Numerous complaints on internet. Gm has internal knowledge of issue with proposed workaround which does not remedy the issue. This is a poor design. Free standing cable in shift column moves and becomes pinched or solder comes loose from harness not allow key to be released. Vehicle cannot be unattended doors cannot be locked left stranded. Vehicle is now at dealer and no longer covered under warranty. Terrible design by gm. Now forced to pay for a repair which will not hold up and that has already been repaired twice well under warranty.
2009 Chevrolet Impala electrical complaints
Page 8 of 9: complaints 191 to 220 of 224, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The entire dash board (speedometer area) will lose power and all the gauges will go out as if the car was turned off while driving. The radio will still work, I can't use the turn signal when this happens. The car would eventually go back to working on the dashboard for awhile and than repeat itself. The airbag light stay on saying I need to have it service, but when I went to a chevorlet dealer today it didn't read a diagnosis code so they couldn't do anything but reset, but that still didn't work.
Was driving car and traction control light came on and then check engine light. Lost power and brakes. Car was able to stop but very hard. Glad nobody was in front of me or I would have it them. This is very dangerous and I think there should be a recall on the throttle body and sensors. I did have it fixed but had to take it to several dealers to figure out if it was the accelerator pedal or the throttle body.it was the whole throttle body unit.
Stopped at the top of a snow covered hill. Put the transmission in 2nd gear and proceeded down the hill. The vehicle got up to about 15 MPH then lost all power; engine quit, no brakes, and the steering wheel locked in place. Because the brakes were not working the vehicle gained significant speed going downhill. Not being able to steer the vehicle because the steering wheel was locked it went off the road and hit a tree. Upon impact the air bags did not deploy. As a result the driver and passenger were seriously injured. *tr the consumer stated after owning the vehicle for a few months, the vehicle began to loose power and several messages appeared on the dashboard. All the power shut off and the consumer had to aaa to have the vehicle towed to where she purchased it. An inspection revealed the throttle body needed to be replaced. Updated 07/10/14
The rear power door lock actuators have failed. The rear passenger door lock failed first, then a few thousand miles later the driver side actuator failed. The problem is intermittent but with a 90%+ occurrence of failure. One or both will fail for weeks at a time, but may occasionally surprise you and work once or twice. The failure is in both the lock and unlock modes. The failure is unrelated to using keyless entry or the manual switch or having child safety locks on or off. It is virtually impossible to reach the rear door top manual latch post from the front seat. On one occasion I was trying to manually unlock the rear passenger side door from the front seat. My head/neck became trapped between the side of the front passenger seat and the door pillar. I was unable to remove my neck until I was able to reach the seat adjusting mechanism and move the seat forward. In the process of that I aggravated a chronic back condition pulling a muscle in my back. An internet search or discussion with repair shops will quickly reveal that this is a widespread issue for many 2008-2009 chevrolet impala, tahoe, malibu and silverado owners. Due to the approximate $365 per door repair cost, the defective latches are not being replaced by many owners. Chevrolet is well aware of the problem and offers no repair assistance. In a crash situation the crash computer sequence cannot be relied on actuate the defective lock actuators. The position of the manual lock post does not facilitate manual operation without extreme contortion of the body. In a fire, crash or emergency it would be difficult to access children or passengers from the rear seat for extraction. My son has told me that it is common knowledge that the rear doors on this genre of vehicle are commonly unlocked and a target of thieves and potentially carjackers.
Today must of been a record for how many times my impala shut itself off! I lost count at about 20 times! Im over a hundred miles away from home at my parents house and on my attempt to get home the impala wouldn't let me drive more than 10 minutes. Because of this I have now had to call off work and am out of a days wage because I made the mistake of buying this car. I have no money and cant get this fixed for awhile but it seems that I may have to chose between eating this month or fixing this so I guess ill just go hungry. I've been searching this site for other year impalas and it seems that every single year is having this issue, even the 2014 models! This has made me reach the conclusion that the federal safety agency doesn't really care about our safety nor do they attempt to solve any problems based on how many times this complaint gets reported and does anything ever happen!? The answer is no! So im basically writing this to inform others who plan on getting an impala, please for the safety of yourself, those around you, and your wallet don't! This is my last gm car I will ever purchase! Not that gm really cares because they already got my $60,000 for my last 3 cars so this problem will never get recalled, nor will this website attempt to provide any type of help so save yourself the headache and buy foreign.
After just clearing the onboard computer with my obd2 scanner just a few minutes before it happened again. After sitting at another stoplight I proceeded into my left turn and as I'm coming into the lane my impala died midway through the intersection as it changed from yellow to red leaving me in the intersection as the cross traffic began to go almost creating a head on collision and a multiple vehicle collision. Can a recall please be in effect for this! Its to the point to where I'm afraid to drive my car to work! I'd rather walk the 20 miles to work then be in this unsafe gm car!
While sitting at a stop light the information panel said reduced engine power as the light turned green. I held up numerous cars as I scanned the obd2 port to clear the code, once again the code read p0601. Cleared it and it started right up.
On my commute to work on the interstate my impala shut itself off. I was in the left lane when the car showed the reduced engine power on the information panel, it then fully disengaged all engine power and powersteering. Being in the outside lane I had to maneuver my impala through the heavy traffic and almost caused numerous accidents trying to squeeze to the shoulder. I then coasted off into the grass almost into a large ditch but I slammed on the brakes hard and went into a skid coming to a full stop. I scanned the car with my obd2 scanner, it read p0601.
I was driving down a very busy street looking for a restaurant and my car made three dinging sounds indicating a issue. Before I even could read what was displaying on my information panel the car lost all power steering and engine power. Because I was traveling at about 55mph I could very luckily coast to a parking lot near by. After coasting to a parking spot I put the car in park and read the information panel, it read reduced engine power, service stabilitrak, and service throttle body. Because I know most american made cars are pure garbage I wont drive one without a ebdii scanner. After reading the ebdii scanner it showed a p0601 code, which indicates a PCM memory issue. After clearing the code it started right back up and drove for about 10 more minutes until I was at a parking lot on a steep grade. The 3 dings happened again and my engine shut off causing me to roll backwards about 10 feet almost into over vehicles. I have done some research on this and have come to found that this is a engineering fault caused by to much current flowing into the power control module, which creates a small hairline crack on the PCM onboard computer, with which many many other gm products have experienced. I feel a recall should be done on all gm products affected by this, this is very unsafe and I feel could lead to deaths. I am a [xxx] male who could control the vehicle with no power steering, imagine a student driver encountering this issue and not being able to maneuver the vehicle away from other drivers or even innocent pedestrians! I know for a fact this has happened to many other gm vehicle owners so does a body count have to stack up before a recall is issued by gm??
Was driving around 65 when out of no where the check engine light and traction control light came on and the reduce to power message started flashing on the dash it dropped my speed down from 65 to like 20 while on the freeway.
Chevy impala. 3.5 6cyl. Vehicle stuck in park. Electric pigtail ground wire for shifting broke. Vehicle cannot be moved out of park unless solenoid is pressed below center console. Wires loose could be potential fire hazard. Gm refuses to issue recall. Talked to brandy at gm 800‑630‑2438 on 7/1/2013 complaint number/service request [xxx]. Says nothing she can do and refuses to admit issue. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
My impala has a very bad electrical problem. My air bag light has been on and the manual said it can deflate at any given time. My wipers half the time don't want to come on or work. My horn and alarm sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The car shakes really bad when I drive it, especially the steering wheel. It also burns oil like crazy.I trust my 99' chevy suburban over my brand new 09' impala. It is the most dangerous car I have ever had and I wish I never would have bought it. It definitely has triple the amount of problems then my 99' suburban had.
While operating the vehicle I noticed thick white smoke coming up from under my seat, I put down the windows was able to pull off to a safe space and by that time visible fire was coming up from around the edges of the seat I hit the onstar botton told them my care was on fire they dispatched police and fire department. After the fire was extinguished the fire department said that it appeared to them that the wiring from the seat motor at shorted out and burned through the wire casing which then caught the seat I was sitting in on fire. The auto body also stated that that appeared to be what happened to them as well.
I recently purchased a chevrolet impala ltz 2009 model a few months ago and it has 82,000 on it. While driving on the highway my check engine light came on. It said that I had a bad accelerator sensor. Followed by a flashing light that said my car had reduced engine speed. I have looked up many times about this issue with my car and many other people have had problems with a bad gas pedal. Gm knows and I'm confused as to why they never asked for a recall on this.
We bought this vehicle on march 27th 2013. On april 20th 2013 (that is 24 days). The key became stuck in the ignition, the car will start and run but you cant shut it off and remove the key, therefore we have to remove the cable to the battery everytime we get out of the car , because if we don't, the battery is dead when we come back. Of course we find out after we buy it that this is a common problem and is expensive to fix. We feel very strongly that this should be recalled and fixed. We are relying on this car to go to work and take our children to school. We shouldn't have to remove and replace the battery cable evertime we get in and out. When we purchased a chevy we expected it to work like it is supposed to.
While driving. Apprx 30-45mph. Random service light appeared showed as "reduced power engine" vehicle then automatically slowed down. Turns off without notice. Un-safe. Over 1500 reviews same situation same vehicle.
My chevrolet impala reduces the power of the engine down to 20 MPH or less and indicates check traction control and reduced engine power. I was almost rear ended because of this and had to pull off the freeway to avoid further potential collisions.
I was driving 55mph 4/10/2013 then I go down to 40 and message sensor says engine low pressure or something like that so I took it to auto zone and they said throttle sensor make the check engine light come on now 4/27/2013 the light came on again now they saying the pedal sensor and the low engine pressure check engine light is on again.
When I put my car in park, I tried to turn my ignition it will not move or turn forward. I recently paid to have it fixed last year and now I have that same problem again.
Traction control warning light came on then it said reduced engine power then it shut the engine off going 65 down the highway with my [xxx] year old driving it. The power steering was not working so she could hardly get the car off the road and almost was hit by a large truck. This is dangerous. I won't let her drive it and it happened to me the next day. *tr parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
The vehicle suddenly decelerated and displayed messages: "reduced engine power" and "service traction control". This was the second incident. The first incident resulted in the engine shutting off completely after the same initial symptoms described; locking up the steering during rush hour traffic (estimated 65 MPH, no injures, approx. 4 month ago). Our mechanic cleaned out the throttle body sensor after the first incident, and phoned the dealership with the trouble codes. The dealership refused warranty service as the trouble codes had gone by the time the car had arrived at their shop, and would not take our mechanic's phone conversation as evidence. We were informed that the three services commonly performed to fix the problem were to replace the throttle body, throttle body sensor, and accelerator pedal; the latter not covered under warranty.
As I was driving to golf on monday september 24th, on interstate I-80 heading west, my 2009 chevy impala onboard computer stated the following, service traction control, reduced power, starter disabled and the check engine light all at roughly the same time. My car completely died and I had no power steering. Luckily I was able to coast out of harms way and get to the side of the road. I checked some wires under the hood and didn't find anything loose. When I attempted to start the car back-up, the onboard computer flashed, starter disabled. I sat with the car for about 15 minutes and tried once more. This time it started and ran normal, but the check engine like was on(still is). How scary is this really? Enough to make me hate driving this car anywhere. Not to mention I'm a single dad of 4, who needs to get to work, school and many other things.
I was driving to work on the freeway then I noticed that my car's RPM started bouncing up and down from two and a half to two and back and forth and then my check engine light turns on and says engine power is reduced and as well as the service traction light turns on. I see that I have to press on the gas pedal a lot more further down for my car to stay at 60 MPH and after 2 minutes of this my car's RPM drops to 0. My car turns off with the car reading starter disabled and service throttle. I had to pull to the shoulder. This incident had made me late for work and this incident happens a lot now. This can happen from once every two or three weeks to twice a week. Just recently my car's seat belts will become undone without anyone clicking the button for it to release. Also recently my service airbags light has came on.
I have a 2009 chevy impala lt with flex-fuel. Over the last few months while driving at all speeds I've noticed that the entire dash board (speedometer area) will lose power and all the gauges will go out as if the car was turned off. The turn signals don't flash on the dash either. But the radio, interior/exterior lights around the car and turn singles will all work fine. Also there is no noticeable lost in performance. After a few moments or minutes the problem will correct itself but it may happen multiple times in a trip. Also I'm having issues with the car turning off as soon as I open the driver door after starting the car by remote start. So I have to sit and wait a few minutes before the car will turn over again.
Car stalled on the interstate. Merged car to break down lane without being hit. Traction control light illuminated. Car would not restart for about 20 minutes. Car then restarted and warning light was off. Previous electrical issues with this vehicle including rear windows that will not roll down and defective air bag sensor.
I-40 east bound; 60 MPH; coming down a 4 to 7% grade through the smokey mountains, north carolina side; 1st error: "service traction control, reduced engine power, service engine. Approximately 5 minutes later 2nd error: "starting disable,service throttle" lost all power to vehicle. A very dangerous and frightening event having no control of your speed, steering, and braking trying to get off to the side of I-40 with the type of grade, tractor trailer trucks that can not slow down fast enough to let you over. We were very.... Very fortunate with our outcome. Had to be towed to a local dealership. Ran diagnostic; error codes p2122, p2138. Dealership replaced the component: electronic accelerator pedal
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 chevrolet impala. The contact stated that all of the doors remained locked and the vehicle could not be locked or opened manually, only by using the electronic key remote. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the electrical system for all four doors needed to be replaced. The VIN was not available. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 6,700.
Traveling at highway speed on 2 lane road, check engine and traction control lights illuminated then vehicle shut down. Lights and radio worked but vehicle would not turn over. After approximately 15 minutes vehicle cranked and started and was drivable. Took to chevrolet dealer who made repairs by replacing 24 terminals. Verbally told me that there was corrosion on wires on this 2 year old vehicle with barely 60,000 miles. Had this happened on a multilane interstate highway shutting down like this could have been very dangerous.
I noticed some time back that when applying the brakes that I would get a rough vibration, such as with bad rotors. I took the car to the dealer that I purchased it at and they looked it over and stated that everything was fine. Since then everytime I hit the brakes the vibrations have only gotten worse, it's to the point now that it violently shakes the entire car and feels as if it's going to jerk the steering wheel right out of my hands. So I made another appointment for this issue and a new one; sometimes my dash lights will flicker and it will tell me it's 102 outside when it's only 70 and automatic tire pressure sensor is way, way off. I have also noticed recently that my front tires have become excessively worn on the outer edges to where there is only tread in the center and this shouldn't be a problem with only 21,500 miles on the vehicle; I should have been able to get about twice that out of the factory tires. At my last appointment they have still said there is no notable problems with my impala.
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